This invention relates in general to a warm-up sleeve suitable for use by an athlete engaged in vigorous physical activity such as pitching a baseball or throwing a football. Additionally when the user is not engaged in physical activity, the sleeve retains body heat in the appropriate area. More particularly, the warm-up sleeve of the present invention includes a unique strap arrangement for keeping the warm-up sleeve in place on the wearer's arm during such physical activity. As will be seen, a strap may be is attached to the warm-up sleeve in the vicinity of the wearer's at chest and shoulder blade and is adjustable under the opposite arm all by use of snaps.
The prior art is replete with various types of sleeve-like items which are specifically designed for a wide range of different purposes. Patents representative of the prior art include the U.S. Pat. to Jones, No. 4,006,495; U.S. Pat. to Girest, No. 3,837,007; U.S. Pat. to Weisberger, No. 2,326,422 and the U.S. Pat. to Riley, No. 1,296,430. Even though the prior art shows a large number of sleeve-like items which are designed for many different uses, none of them specifically deals with a warm-up sleeve to be worn by an athlete engaged in vigorous physical activity. As a result, none of the prior art items employs a securing technique capable of effectively keeping the item in place on the arm of the wearer while he is engaged in vigorous physical activity producing active arm movements.
The most common technique for securing the various sleeve-like items to the arm of the wearer consist of incorporating an elastic band into the upper edge of the item. This band allows the upper edge of the sleevelike item to be peripherally stretchable to allow easy insertion of the wearer's arm into the sleeve. Once the wearer's arm is properly inserted within the sleeve-like item, the elastic band is allowed to contract causing the upper edge of the item to contact the arm of the wearer. It has been found, however, that this type of securing technique is not capable of retaining a sleeve in place on the arm of the wearer during vigorous physical activity such as pitching a baseball or throwing a football. The active arm movement produced by this type of physical activity causes the sleeve-like item to slide down the arm of the wearer because the elastic band cannot be made tight enough to retain the sleeve in place on the arm of the wearer during such physical activity without interfering with the proper circulation of the blood through the arm.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a warm-up sleeve suitable for use by athletes engaged in vigorous physical activity producing active arm movement such as those found pitching a baseball or throwing a football.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a warm-up sleeve of the character described wherein one sleeve is suitable for use by persons of varying sizes.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a warm-up sleeve suitable for use by athletes engaged in vigorous physical activity wherein the sleeve is arranged to be quickly and easily donned and removed.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a warm-up sleeve of the character described wherein the sleeve is retained in place on the arm of the wearer by means of a unique strap arrangement which does not interfere with the wearer's freedom of movement. In one embodiment of the warm-up sleeve, the strap arrangement is comprised of a pair of holding straps each of which is secured to a different side of the shoulder portion of the sleeve. The free end of one strap may have either a Velcro pile patch or snaps secured to it while the other strap is similarly secured to its free end. These straps are arranged to be releasably secured to each other on the other side of the wearer's neck to retain the sleeve in place on the arm of the wearer. In the second embodiment of the warm-up sleeve, the strap arrangement is comprised of a resilient strap which has its opposite ends connected to different sides of the shoulder portion of the sleeve. In this embodiment of the sleeve, the elastic strap forms a closed loop with the shoulder portion of the sleeve. This loop is arranged to extend around the upper portion of the shoulder corresponding to the arm on which the sleeve is placed and the underarm area of the wearer's other arm. The elastic strap rests against the underarm area of the wearer's other arm to retain the warm-up sleeve in place on the arm of the wearer.
Other and further objects of the invention, together with the features of novelty appurtenant thereto, will appear in the course of the following description.